Visa Overstayer Illegal Migrants Estimated at 64,000 a Year

Illegal migrants who make it into Britain by obtaining legitimate visas and then not leaving are estimated at 64,000 a year, dwarfing the headline-grabbing boat migrant influx.

The ever-increasing number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats — despite the Tories having first declared the crossings a “major incident” and promised to bring it under control in 2018 — is now the only migration-related issue to receive serious attention from British politicians.

Analysis of Home Office data from 2018 to 2020 shows that an annual average of 3,600 were recorded as having arrived in Britain by boat — although this is arguably misleading, as the numbers have risen dramatically year on year and currently stand at around 14,500 for 2021 with months still to go before the year’s end.

Accounting for people stowing away in lorries etc. as well, the average number of so-called “clandestine entries” rises from 3,600 a year to around 11,400 — keeping in mind that only clandestine entries that are detected are accounted for, so the real scale is unknown and will likely never be known.

There are also an approximate further 4,000 migrants a year who arrive by air with no papers or false papers.

But this is still dwarfed by the hidden influx of visa overstayers, estimated at a whopping 64,400 a year.

It is down to these reasons, and others, that recent censi (censuses) taken in the United Kingdom has shown surprising rises in the number of people actually inside Britain, and the composition of cities. The results of the latest census, which will give a clearer picture of how many people are actually in Britain, will be published next year.